Disclosure
by Lizzie2010
Summary: Erin Strauss needed a 'date' to a function...Dave reluctantly agreed. There, he discovered a long held secret from Erin and how he was going to handle this 'secret'. For Fanfic Challenge 2010 Round Two.


Gosh! What a challenge this is!

This is a fanfic Challenge 2010-Round 2. Pairing is Rossi/Strauss (yicky) and to the song title of 'This ain't sexy' by Usher.

Disclaimer: I don't own CM or their characters not do I own Usher and song.

Disclosure

"Agent Rossi, have a seat," Section Chief Erin Strauss indicated a chair in front of her desk.

Dave Rossi nodded his head and walked into her office. He was curious as to why she had requested to meet with him.

"So, Erin, what's going on?" he began.

_Always trying to get an upper hand_, she thought grimly.

"I have a favor to ask of you," she began. When he didn't say anything which surprised her, she continued before he did find something to say.

"I need you to accompany me to a function tomorrow evening," she said and held her breath.

Dave was quiet; anything but accompanying her to a function was the last thing he had expected.

"What sort of function?" he was cautious, _best look at the options before you leaped._

Sighing a little, she said, "It's the annual Cure for Breast Cancer foundation, and it's at the Hyatt Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland."

Nodding a little, he asked again, "Why me? Where's Collins?" Collins was her husband.

"He and I…we're separated," she said softly, not looking at Dave's eyes.

"I…I'm truly sorry this happened. How long ago?"

"Does it matter? And it's not really your concern," taking another deep breath, she asked him again, "yes or no?"

"You haven't answer, why me?" he asked again.

"Because you are the only one that's available…I mean, that's still here and not on assignment," she felt a little heated at the slight.

Dave grinned as he caught her double entendre, "What about Robert Guillen from Cyber Division?"

Stiffened slightly, she asked, "What about him?"

Satisfied with her physical reaction, he shrugged, "Just a rumor,"

"And that's just it, an unfounded rumor," she snapped back.

"But how did a rumor started? By a substantial source,"  
"I know that!" taking another deep breath, she watched Dave. Why is it such a torture to ask this man a simple question? "Will you accompany me to this function?"

"Why is it important to you? Wait…don't tell me you're…"

She held her hand up, "No, it's not me. Anna had a mastectomy last year."

Anna was her daughter, she was 19 years old.

"Oh, Erin, I'm sorry. She's so young."

"Thank you. But she's in remission."

Dave nodded his head; he didn't have anything to do tomorrow but to go through his notes for his next book but that can wait. Even if he couldn't stand the mother, he had known Anna since she was little…a baby and she was a great kid.

"Okay, I'll go with you," he told her.

Erin almost smiled but then, that would be showing too much emotion, so instead she nodded her head, "Thank you. Do you want me to pick you up tomorrow evening?"

Shaking his head, "Erin, chivalry is still alive and even though you're my superior, I think tomorrow's event calls for equal footing; friends. I'll pick you up and I presumed it's formal?"

Nodding her head, "Yes, black tie and all. And here's my address," she said as she scribbled it down on the back of her business card and handed it to him.

Glancing at the address, he smiled a little, "Still living in that Gothic get-up you called home, I see,"

Twitching an eyebrow up, she spoke, "It's not Gothic! It was done up five years ago for Halloween, Collins and Anna had gone over the top with it. It's repainted to its original color since."

"Hmmm…okay. 6pm?" he asked as he stood up from the chair.

She nodded, "6 will be fine, and Dave, thank you again."

He nodded and playfully saluted to her, "Not a problem, Erin…by the way, is Anna going?"

Looking at him oddly, she nodded, "She will be going with her boyfriend, Tanner."

"Wait, Tanner Ellington from Cyber?" he was beginning to connect the dots.

Seeing his understanding, she smiled ever so slightly, "Yes. And yes, Tanner is Robert Guillen's nephew," she explained.

"Well, I guess I owe you an apology…" he began but she held her hand up.

"Consider this as making up for the slight, Dave."

"Okay," he said as he headed for the door and nodding to her, he left.

Erin slumped back into her chair and breathed out a sigh of relieved, glad of the fact that he had not pursue about Collins. Shaking her head, she knew that sooner or later, he'd figure it out…he was too damn smart for his own good!

….

"Wow Erin, you look…you cleaned up pretty good," Dave had to admire that fact; after all those years, she still had a little affect on him. But it was many years…twenty years ago, when they were newly initiated FBI agents…

Erin was wearing a soft silk lilac sleeveless dress with a matching shawl, her hair was let out this time, the blonde tresses reaching near the back of her waist. Dave wondered if her hair was still as silky…

"Thank you, Dave. And you looked good in your tux…uh, your bowtie, it's crooked," she reached up to tweak it. Then realizing what she had done, Erin blushed and put her hands down by her side stiffly.

Dave grinned, "Thanks. And I don't bite…not any more," he said cryptically.

Gasping slightly, she frowned, "Dave….that's not…appropriate!"

Waving his hand, he shook his head, "I'm sorry…I did promised."

She nodded and sighed, "Shall we get going?" she was beginning to regret asking him to accompany her.

"As you wished, Erin," he raised his hand and indicated his vehicle.

"Hmmm, nice car, your second one?" she knew he had an affinity for classic cars, this one, a 1951 Type 101 Bugatti, still in mint condition.

"Huh, fourth one," he flushed. She knew him well. He had accumulated 7 classic cars since his first book became a top seller.

"Nice taste," she admired it as he opened the passenger door for her.

As he got into the driver side, something caught his eyes on the front lawn; it was a 'For Sale' sign and underneath it, the word 'Sold'.

Without any thoughts, he got in and started the car; in due time, he'd ask her, but now was not it.

In no time, they were on their way onto the freeway that would take them to Baltimore.

"So, how much did you shelled out for this event?" he knew charity functions were never cheap.

"Not much, a couple of thousand," she shrugged.

He glanced over to her and then back on the road. "You know what, and I can't figure it out…you're loaded, you came from old money and yet, you're taking this menial job, I mean you can retire any time…why not?"

"What are you getting at, Dave?" she asked warily.

"Nothing really, just trying to understand you, that's all."

"Don't. You tried that…never mind. Can't we just do this without baggage?" she looked towards her side of the window, not trusting herself to look at him. She felt her walls beginning to crumble. _No! I've worked too hard for that!_

"As you wished," he shrugged his shoulders. _After all these years…after three marriages…not again!_

The rest of the ride was in awkward silence. Every subject was an embargo.

…

When he slowed to a stop under the overhang in front of the hotel, he unbuckled and before he opened his door, a valet had opened it for him, likewise over on Erin's side.

Nodding his thanks, he handed the young man a tip and in return, the smiling valet handed him a ticket as he remarked on his vehicle, "Nice ride, Sir!"

Waiting for Erin to walk over to his side, he looked around the front entrance of the opulent hotel. Nicely decorated, he thought appreciatively.

Putting his right arm out, she hooked her left hand around it, "Ready?" he asked her. She nodded and as the doorman opened the doors, they entered the lobby.

There were signs all over the lobby directing guests to the ballroom reserved for the charity event.

"Hmm, pretty nice looking get-up here," Dave mumbled.

"At $1000 a plate, it ought to be!" she returned.

He looked down at her and saw nothing of the Section Chief in her, just a very well-dressed, elegant woman.

"Guess I better say pretty things to the host and hostess of this dig," he commented.

Erin smiled, and remembered things a long time ago, things they used to do…back then, they were so young and naïve!

Dave saw the smile and thought how he had missed them! His mind wandered twenty years ago, back when they were so young and naïve!

….

They were sitting in an assigned table when Erin muttered quietly, looking behind Dave.

Turning around, he looked around, trying to figure what she had saw and made her paled.

And he spotted her. _Oh my God!_

He turned and looked back at Erin, an angry spark in his eyes but he didn't say anything, he was well bred enough to not embarrassed her in public.

Erin paled even more when she saw the angry looks in his eyes and knew that he knew.

"Hey Mom! Glad to see you here," came a softly spoken feminine voice behind Dave, Erin was looking at her.

"Hello Anna, you doing okay?" she couldn't helped but swung into maternal mode on her first born child.

"Mom!" the voice said in an exaggerated tone. "You know I'm fine."

"Where's Tanner?" Erin smiled at her and then looked behind Anna.

"He went to the bar to get us something to drink," she replied.

"So, where are you sitting?" she asked, eager to keep her daughter occupied.

"Um," she looked at her card and then looked around and down to the table she was standing next to, where her mother was sitting. "Right here! Guess they stuck us together!" she smiled happily.

Erin felt both happy and frightened. Yeah, she had never felt so afraid, even when Collins found out…he, she could handled but this!

"Oh! Great!" was all she could come up with.

Finally Anna couldn't contain herself and asked, "So Mom, who did you brought along?"

Well, sooner or later, they were bound to meet! Erin thought with a resigned inner sigh.

"A colleague. Anna, meet Dave Rossi, he's also an FBI agent, with the BAU," Erin began.

Dave had been studying Anna since she had walked up to her mother and couldn't help but saw the resemblance.

"Hi, it's a pleasure to finally meet you again," he began, his arm extended to shake her hand.

Anna looked at the handsome older gentleman sitting by her mother's side and frowned a little; _where have I seen him before? He looked really familiar!_

"The pleasure's mine…but I hate to sound cliché, have we met before? I mean, I feel as if we've met," she stated as she sat on the other side of her mother as she continued looking at Dave.

"Not since you were a little baby. Your mother and I started in the Bureau together over twenty years ago. And when you were born, she brought you to work to show you off," he smiled as he remembered that day. But that day, he glanced at the new-born baby for a moment, then at the mother before uttering a 'congratulations' to her and left. At that time, he was too bitter to really look at the baby.

If he did, things would have changed drastically.

"You knew me when I was a baby! Gosh! That's so many years ago!" Anna laughed. Dave felt a twinge in his heart.

"Dave," Erin whispered but he shook his head and leaned into her, and whispered.

"No now. We'll talk about this later, and by god, we will talk!"

Erin trembled; she knew she was not going to get away this time. Part of her was glad; no more secrets, he had the right, after all.

"There you are, Anna!" shouted a male voice behind Dave. It was Tanner Ellington; Dave recognized his distinctive southern accent. "I'll tell ya what, this is a shin dig if ever I seen one! Mamma's gonna have a fit when I tell her!" he laughed.

Anna looked at him with a glow in her face. Dave saw that she loved this young man, plain and simple, and he smiled.

"Tanner! You're not going to tell her! Can you imagine what she's gonna say?" she laughed as he sat down besides her, handing her drink, cranberry juice.

Mimicking a southern accent of her own, Anna began, "Boy, this here is a wastin' get-up! Daddy'd have a fit here, look yonder at all the de-cor-a-tion! Meemaw's gonna say that using cloth linen would be a wastin' here! Just use Bounty paper towel! And those Dixie paper plates and cups! Now, that will save more money for those poor folks with cancer. All these real china!" Anna clucked disappointingly and both Tanner and she began to laugh raucously, drawing attention from other tables around them.

Dave couldn't help but chuckled at her accent. Erin was blushing and shook her head slightly, but Dave saw that she was quite amused by her daughter's antics.

Tanner's laughter subsided and for the first time, saw Dave Rossi sitting on the other side of Erin. He frowned slightly as he glanced from him and then at Anna, back to him and Anna.

"Oh hey, Agent Rossi! Fancy seeing you here in this place, as well!" he stood up and leaned over to shake the older man's hand.

Dave smiled at the young man, "You know me, loved to do functions!" he looked at him, the young man's shocking red hair seemed to brightened and contrasted under the pale yellow lighting in the room.

Tanner guffawed at Dave's joke, and looked at Anna, "He's so dang funny, honey! You should see him at work, them wo…" suddenly he blushed as he realized just in time that they were the only ones sitting at the table and that Dave was with Erin. _Oh shit!_

Dave wanted to laugh at the young man's faux pas but just shook his head as he grinned at Tanner.

"Um…yeah, Agent Rossi is real smart and he worked with the best team there!" he tried to recover himself.

"Tanner, please call me Dave. We are not at work."

"Yes Sir! Thank you, A…Dave," he blushed quickly.

Being of southern bred, he couldn't help himself but blurted out, "Hey, Anna! Did you know you look just like Ag…I mean Dave here?"

Silence.

Tanner, unaware of the uncomfortable silence, continued, "I mean, hell, he could be your daddy! No offense to Mr. Strauss."

It was then he realized that the other three had not spoken at all.

"Did I say something wrong?" he asked.

"Tanner honey…er…I…oh my god!" Anna cried out and standing up, she dashed away from the table, out of the ballroom.

Tanner watched her go and stood up, confusion etched in his face, "what's gotten into her…oh man! Is she not feelin' fine…I mean the medicine!" he muttered and ran off after her.

Dave leaned over a very pale Erin, "Damn you Erin! Damn you to hell!" he got up as well and left her by herself, quaking in her seat.

…

When he walked out of the ballroom, he glanced around and saw Tanner holding a distraught Anna. His heart went to her.

He was about to go over to them when he felt a hand restraining him.

Angrily, he turned to glance at Erin.

"Don't you fucking stop me!" he growled at her.

"Dave, listen to me…I…" she saw that they were drawing attention from other guests arriving. "Can we go somewhere private?"

"Certainly…" he grabbed her hand and walked briskly, the opposite direction of where the young couple was.

Dave spied an atrium in the center of the hotel, currently deserted and headed there.

There was a large fountain, spewing water from the top which was a fat little cherub.

Turning towards her, Dave glared as he hissed, "Why didn't you tell me! Shit! You married Collins and fooled us! Damn you!"

Cringing at his glare, she looked down at the carpet, "I'm sorry Dave. I…my family…"

"Oh, don't you use your family as an excuse!" he spat.

"No…but you were still married to Therese when I found out I was pregnant!" she returned, her anger coming back. She was not going to take the fault by herself.

Dave stopped; she was right. He was still married when they began the affair but…

"Therese and I were finished before I…we…" taking a deep breath, he began again. "If I knew, I would have divorced her sooner. I know my responsibility, Erin!"

Shaking her head, she replied, "No. We would be miserable because what we did…it wasn't love, it was just…"

"No! I…" and he realized he couldn't say it. He didn't love her truly; he was being honest to himself. She was right, they would be miserable together.

But still they could make a go at it!

"You were quick to remarry after Therese!" she pointed angrily, her eyes sparkling.

He couldn't speak; he was so angry she had married Collins, after he had divorced Therese. Chantel was a willing partner, more willing than Dave had bargained for. That second marriage was base on nothing but accusations and infidelities; talk about a mess!

"That's because you married to please your family!"

"No, yes…Dave! It's not…Oh! Why am I defending myself!" She exclaimed.

"Defending yourself? Come on, Erin…we knew we could be good together," he started.

"For how long? Did you forget the times we argued?" she tried to remind him.

"No, you argued I listened."

"See! You're doing it again!"

Taking a deep breath, he shook his head, "But you shouldn't have kept it from me."

"Yes I do. And did. You lost that right a long time ago. You lost that right when you cheated on Therese."

"Don't make a martyr of yourself and Therese. She was cheating on me as well."

This was the first she had heard, "oh! I didn't know. I…how long?" she felt bad for him.

"Way before you and I …got together. I didn't know until she slipped and made a cryptic remark. She forgot she was married to a profiler. It took me less than a week to figure it. Do you remember George Schind?  
"Isn't he your best friend from the Marines?" she asked, vaguely recalling the short blond man.

"Was. The bastard had been fucking Therese as long as I was married to her, shit…he screwed her on our wedding day! Can you believe that?" he shook his head when he heard about it the first time, twenty years ago.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Dave. I wished…" she shrugged, not knowing what she could do.

"What could you do? By the time I found out, you were 'happily' married to Collins. Speaking of the happy man, what happened?" Dave asked.

Erin knew this was inevitable, sighing, she told him.

"Anna had a failed kidney because of the cancer," she began, Dave gasped…their child! And he didn't know! She continued, "She needed a transplant, so Collins and I were tested as well as Marlon. We were no match and I had to leave for DC with the director; some emergency meeting with the President. It was then that the doctor revealed to Collins that he was not her biological father. When I got back, when I rushed back to the hospital…Collins gave me a look and I knew right away. He never came back; his stuff was gone from the house. Last week, he filed for divorce."

"What about Anna and Marlon?" Marlon was her son, he was sixteen years old.

"I told them the truth. Anna was more forgiving but Marlon choose to live with his dad," she said sadly. Her heart heaving heavily.

"Why was Anna so easily believable?" he asked.

"I knew about it five years ago," a voice spoke from the entrance to the atrium. Anna was standing there with Tanner.

Erin whipped her head towards her daughter, "Anna! How?"

Stepping in, she spoke but she was looking at Dave, "When I was first diagnosed. I overheard Dr. Reilly and nurse discussing about blood match. Dr. Reilly had to tell me; patient-doctor privacy confidence. I was mad at you, Mom. That you had cheated on Dad, but looking at the timeline, I knew you were pregnant with me before you married Dad," she revealed.

Erin shook her head, "I knew your math knowledge would get at me," Anna shrugged her shoulders.

"What are you talking about?" Dave was thoroughly confused.

"Anna is a genius where math is concerned…she has two doctorates for Mathematics Engineering and Analytical Mathematics! It's some sort of complicated Math jargon."

"Mom!" Anna blushed.

Dave looked from mother to daughter and saw a very deep connection between the two that was more than just being mother and daughter.

"And Dr. Strauss here will be moving to Switzerland to work with those people over there that are conducting those experiments with the Large Hadron Collider," the proud mother said.

Dave's eyes widened as he looked at Anna, "You are going to get to play with protons?" he teased her, his heart swelling with pride.

Anna chuckled, "If you could call it that…yeah, that's a good description."

Awkward silence enveloped them, each deep in their thoughts.

Finally Dave asked, "Anna, could you give us a moment?"

Anna nodded and after looking at her mother, giving her a nod, she left the atrium.

Erin looked expectantly at Dave, her anger had ebbed and she was at peace with her daughter. Dave, on the other hand, still looked weary.

"Look Erin, I'm sorry for acting such a jerk to you, I wanted to make this right…if you and Anna would permit me, I would like to be part of her life."

_He didn't say hers as well_, Erin noted sadly.

"That, you'd have to ask her but as her mother, I don't see a problem. I mean I have deprived you of her for 19 years," she said.

"I have a lot of catching up to do," he finished her sentence. "And you? What about you?" he asked softly.

Erin shrugged, "What about me? I'll get by…haven't I done that since Collins left?"

"I guess not. Look, what if I say we try to be…uh…get to know each other again?" he asked.

Staring at him wearily, she asked, "Why? I mean, we're pretty well into our years and I'm not into…that…" she couldn't finish, too embarrassed.

"Erin, my wild days are long gone. What I mean is, this ain't sex anymore…more about companionship," he offered.

"This ain't sex? Yeah, my time is long gone too. Companionship is…good."

Dave smiled slowly, "Who knows? This time we may last longer."

Erin returned his smile, "Yeah…who knows but if we were to…do this, I don't want anyone from the Bureau know about this,"

He caught the cryptic warning; especially from the BAU!

He nodded his head in agreement.

Then he asked again, "Feel like going back to the ball room?" he took her hand and led her out of the atrium.

She shook her head, "Not really. I want to go home…" she frowned as she let him lead.

"Speaking of home…I noticed you sold that mansion…" he began as they walked out of the hotel.

The End

Great, I made her nice. Now I need to shower!

Well, this was not easy…given the unusual title and pairing! (Thank you, hot4cullenmen! LOL!)

And most of all, I hoped I done some sort of 'justice' to it.

Please review!

Lizzie


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